LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 122: CHAPTER 122
As the Red-Haired Pirates defeated their opponents one by one, they rushed toward Marineford with urgency.
Ben Beckman sat silently on the deck, replaying Yamato's words in his mind.
"What's on your mind, Beckman? Did your opponent rattle you this time?" Shanks asked, sitting beside him, his tone lighthearted despite the bandages wrapped around his shoulder and abdomen—clear signs of his serious injuries.
Beckman exhaled a puff of smoke, glancing at Shanks. "Looks like you've been rattled too. It's rare for you to come away like this since becoming one of the Yonko."
Shanks chuckled sheepishly but then sighed deeply. "I underestimated Kaido. His stamina and resilience are beyond belief—honestly, even Captain Roger might not have been able to outlast him in terms of endurance."
After a brief pause, Shanks added, "But let's talk about you. I saw that woman you fought. She's already mastered Conqueror's Haki coating. Impressive."
Beckman's expression darkened slightly as he blew another smoke ring. "Her strength is undeniable, but it's what she said that lingers with me."
"Huh? What did she say?" Shanks asked, curious.
"She questioned fate," Beckman replied, his tone contemplative. "Hey, Shanks, why do you think it has to be Luffy? What if things had gone differently? What if you had eaten that fruit instead of him?"
Shanks stiffened slightly, surprised by the hypothetical question. "Why bring that up now? That's not like you, Beckman."
Beckman shook his head. "Just something I've been mulling over."
Shanks frowned but then smiled faintly. "The Gomu Gomu no Mi—or rather, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika—chose Luffy. And I entrusted Captain Roger's straw hat to him. Those aren't coincidences; they're fate. Luffy will become Joy Boy. He's the only one who can."
The Red-Haired Pirates pushed their ship to its limit, and by evening, they reached the blood-soaked battlefield of Marineford.
The setting sun cast a crimson hue over the island, and the entire sky seemed drenched in blood. Shanks clenched his fists as he scanned the scene, searching for familiar faces. Neither Whitebeard nor Ace was in sight.
Shanks' face darkened. He stepped onto Marineford, his every stride brimming with Conqueror's Haki. Each step caused soldiers and pirates alike to collapse, overwhelmed by his sheer presence.
"Stop this war!" Shanks bellowed, releasing an immense wave of Haki that brought even Marine Vice Admirals to their knees.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku, visibly weary, confronted him. "Red-Haired Shanks, what are you doing here?!"
"This has gone far enough, Sengoku! Look around you—more than half of the forces on both sides are dead. Isn't that enough?!" Shanks shouted, his voice filled with righteous anger.
Sengoku's expression hardened, but he couldn't deny the truth. The navy's casualties were staggering—far greater than anticipated.
Shanks turned his attention to Marco, who was leading the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. "Marco, stop this. Continuing will only mean complete annihilation for your crew."
Marco, his face streaked with tears, protested bitterly. "We haven't recovered Pops' ashes or Ace's body yet!"
Shanks' jaw tightened as he surveyed the battlefield. Whitebeard's body had been reduced to ashes, and Ace's corpse was nowhere to be found.
"Ace's body was taken by that bastard Blackbeard," Marco added, his voice trembling with fury.
Shanks' expression grew even darker. Tch. So Blackbeard's behind this, too.
He soon learned from survivors that a single individual had repeatedly escalated the conflict, turning Marineford into a living nightmare. That man was none other than Alastor, the "Thunder Calamity" of the Beasts Pirates. His actions had driven the war to its catastrophic peak, leaving much of Marineford in ruins.
Shanks muttered under his breath, "The Beasts Pirates... they're a scourge, a plague on this world."
In the aftermath, Shanks also discovered that Luffy had been rescued by a sudden storm. Witnesses claimed the storm had been summoned by none other than Monkey D. Dragon himself—Luffy's father. Shanks let out a small sigh of relief.
When Sengoku finally agreed to stop the fighting—partially out of respect for Shanks and partially due to the navy's heavy losses—the war came to an end. Marco and the Whitebeard Pirates managed to recover Whitebeard's ashes before retreating, though they left Marineford battered and broken.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Marineford was left in eerie silence, its soil stained red with the blood of countless lives.
The Summit War was over.
The navy was declared the victor, having killed Whitebeard and Ace. But the cost was immense—over 50,000 naval casualties, including hundreds of Commodores, dozens of Vice Admirals, and countless lower-ranking officers.
Even the navy's top brass, including Sengoku, felt no triumph. The weight of their losses and the destruction wrought by the war left them hollow.
And as Shanks stood amidst the wreckage, his thoughts turned toward the future. The echoes of Yamato's defiance, Luffy's destiny, and the chaos caused by Alastor lingered in his mind.
This was not the end—only the beginning of the storm to come.
After the Summit War at Marineford, the navy emerged victorious, but the cost was devastating. Their forces were decimated, and their strength had been halved.
The losses among officers of vice admiral and rear admiral rank were especially grievous. These officers were the backbone of the navy, essential for maintaining order in the Four Blues and the Grand Line. Unlike the admirals, who were rarely dispatched, it was these ranks that coordinated naval operations and enforced justice across the seas.
Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral, felt the weight of this loss keenly. The navy's ability to sustain its global presence had been gravely compromised. Training officers of such caliber took years, and losing so many at once was an almost irreplaceable blow.
As Sengoku reviewed the aftermath, one name burned in his mind: Alastor.
This infamous member of the Beasts Pirates had wreaked havoc on the battlefield, undermining Sengoku's strategies and amplifying the chaos of the war. The destruction he caused directly contributed to the catastrophic loss of life among the navy's higher ranks.
If there was anyone Sengoku despised most after this war, it was Blackbeard—Marshall D. Teach, who exploited his position as a Shichibukai to free the Level 6 prisoners of Impel Down—and Alastor, whose unrelenting violence had turned the war into a nightmare.
Both men were now considered the navy's greatest threats. Determined to act, Sengoku immediately issued two new bounty posters:
Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard): 2,247,600,000 berries
Alastor (Thunder Calamity): 1,500,000,000 berries
Although Alastor's bounty was lower than Blackbeard's, his infamy in the underworld added a layer of menace. The black market had placed an additional bounty of 2 billion berries on his head, making the total price for his capture or death an astonishing 3.5 billion berries.
This massive sum caught the attention of the underworld's kings and brokers, who began plotting ways to claim the reward. The world government, too, had marked Alastor as a high-priority target, and their determination to eliminate him had reached an all-time high.
"Jehahaha! So, the Red-Haired Pirates are just a bunch of cowards after all!" Queen, the Plague, mocked loudly as he puffed on his cigar. "What kind of 'iron wall' pirates are they if they run away? Worthless!"
Nearby, Who's-Who, one of the Flying Six, limped over, still nursing his injuries from the battle. He cast a sharp look at Queen and scoffed. "That's rich coming from you, Queen. You purposely picked the weakest opponent. If anyone's a coward, it's you."
The tension among the Beasts Pirates was palpable. The core officers of the Red-Haired Pirates had fought them to a standstill, proving to be more than a match for the Flying Six.
Even Who's-Who, known for his strength, had barely managed to hold his own against Limejuice, a mid-tier member of Shanks' crew. Meanwhile, Queen had avoided serious combat entirely, choosing a low-priority target.
Queen sneered. "Don't blame me for your weakness, Who's-Who. I walked away without a scratch because I'm strong. You should learn something from me!"
Who's-Who's face darkened, but before he could retort, a deafening roar echoed across the island.
A massive green dragon soared into the sky, its scales glinting in the sunlight.
"Boss Kaido is pissed," Who's-Who muttered, his eyes wide.
"Of course he's pissed," Queen grumbled, wiping dust from his face as a powerful gust from the dragon's ascent blew over him. "But it's not my fault!"
Moments later, King, the All-Star known as the Wildfire, descended in his pterosaur form, his massive wings stirring up another gale. He landed gracefully and fixed Queen with a cold glare. "This is your punishment for slacking off during the fight."
Queen scowled. "You've got some nerve, King! Do you want to fight right here?"
Before the two could escalate their argument, Jack the Drought stepped in. "Brothers, calm down! We have bigger things to deal with!"
"Shut up!" Queen and King barked in unison, silencing Jack, who hung his massive head in shame.
Jack had chosen Yasopp as his opponent during the battle but had been utterly outmatched. Yasopp's sharpshooting skills had rendered Jack's brute strength useless, leaving the hulking mammoth battered and humiliated.
"Enough!" Black Maria intervened, her soothing voice cutting through the tension. "What's done is done. Let's focus on the boss. Why is Kaido angry?"
King folded his arms. "The Red-Haired Pirates ran away. Kaido was just getting into the battle, and now his mood is ruined. But he's not going to chase them. He has other plans."
Kaido's massive form loomed in the sky as he bellowed, "Prepare yourselves! We're heading to Marineford to claim Whitebeard's head!"
It was Kaido's strategy all along: seize Whitebeard's territories first, then crush his legacy entirely by claiming his head.
Landing on island after island, Kaido left a trail of destruction in his wake. His overwhelming dragon form and sheer might forced every territory loyal to Whitebeard to submit. Those who resisted were annihilated in a single breath of his devastating Bolo Breath.
But the ease of his conquests left Kaido unsatisfied. He longed for a real fight—one that would push him to the edge.
"Why is everyone so weak?!" Kaido roared, his frustration echoing across the seas.
The green dragon turned his gaze toward his officers. "Get ready. We're going to Marineford. Whitebeard's head will be mine!"
The Beasts Pirates roared in unison, preparing for the next stage of Kaido's ambitious plan.
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